Ghosts of the Past
by fallenangel860
Summary: Everyone knows that Amber is a force not to be trifled with, but that wasn't always so. She relives a past full of tragedy during an encounter that brings back painful memories. WARNING! Be prepared to actually feel bad for Amber. Sexual content


**Ghosts of the Past**

Amber lay in bed waiting for sleep. It didn't come. She closed her eyes, letting herself become enveloped by the darkness. A faint sound stirred her from her descent into dreamland. Her bedroom door creaked softly open and clicked closed again seconds later. Footsteps whispered quietly on the carpet, coming closer, closer to where she lay. She closed her eyes again, this time pretending to be asleep. She slowed her breathing and lay still. Not tonight. She'd been having nightmares lately. Dreams that haunted her, taunted her with images of her past, things she'd rather forget. If only she could forget her past, she could finally move on, become the woman she wanted to be instead of the ridiculous facade she'd become. He slipped into bed beside her and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Rise and shine," he cooed in her ear, "its play time."

Those words sent a shiver down her spine. The things he did didn't even bother her anymore, in fact, she'd come to accept it as a twisted brand of love, but did he have to use those words every goddamn time? It was the words that brought back the memories she'd rather forget. His lips trailed down her neck and his hands wandered as her mind drifted back to the memories that haunted her nightmares.

The images flashed through her mind. _She was ten years old again, playing with her older brother. She hadn't really expected Luigi to play, he was 8 years older than her after all and usually had some work to do for Daddy, but Paviche was always willing to play along with her games. That day, it was hide and seek. When she'd begged them to play Luigi had merely mumbled something and walked away, but Paviche had agreed and turned his back to count. Carmela had gone where she doubted her brother would find her. She ducked down behind Rotti's desk and waited for her brother to come searching for her. _

_Instead of her mild mannered brother however, it had been her parents that walked in. Carmela knew better than to be in her father's office. It was one of the rules. She ducked down low and crawled under the desk hoping he wouldn't find her. Rotti didn't bother to sit down, instead, he was arguing with her mother. Carmela wasn't sure what was happening. Rotti begged her mother to reconsider, told her she was making a huge mistake. Her mother was telling him that he was hurting her, he had to let her go, she couldn't stay anymore. Carmela could stay, he could give her more than she would be able to. Carmela watched as her mother wrenched her arm away and stormed out of the room. It wasn't long before her father followed. _

_Not more than fifteen minutes later Paviche made a show of poking his head into the room and searching every impossible nook and cranny before reaching behind the desk and pulling her our as she burst into a fit of laughter, the argument that had happened not so long ago quickly forgotten. She didn't think about again until that evening at supper. When she'd asked where mommy was her father replied that she was going away and never coming back. Carmela looked at him, but his face was cold and hard. _

_After her mother had left things slowly began to collapse in Carmela's life. Luigi seemed to take it the hardest. Carmela began to fear her eldest brother. He would yell and scream every time things didn't go his way. Paviche got the brunt of his anger. They would fight nearly every time they ran into each other in the building. Little Carmela had seen her brother at his worst. She'd been playing with Pavi; she had just begun to count when she heard Luigi scream. The sound froze her in her tracks. He began to swear and Carmela ran after her brother, not that there was much she would be able to do to help him. She reached Luigi's room just in time to watch in horror as he sprang naked from the bed, leaving the girl lying there clutching the blankets to her chest, and grabbed Pavi by the throat. He pulled him hard towards the fireplace and pressed his face into the hot wire. Pavi screamed as the hot metal seared his sensitive flesh. When Luigi finally pulled him back, large chunks of his skin remained clinging to the grate. Luigi threw him to the floor and looked at her. He sneered. "GET THE FUCK OUT YOU LITTLE BASTARDS. CAN'T YOU SEE I'M BUSY?" He came at them and Carmela fled, leaving her brothers behind. _

_It wasn't long after that that Carmela noticed a marked difference in her brothers. Pavi began to show up to the dinner table with a new face each day covering the mass of scars that now marred his once handsome visage. Each day he had a new GENtern at his side. _

_Luigi had changed too. He became even more immersed in the inner workings of her father's business than he used to be. Carmela hardly ever saw him anymore. If he wasn't in his office going over paperwork and delinquency notices, he was screaming at Pavi or the GENterns or the other employees. It sometimes seemed to Carmela that she only ever saw him at meal times anymore. He gave her strange looks at the dinner table and his eyes lingered a little too long. She didn't know why, but it made her feel uncomfortable. _

_He'd gotten increasingly more violent too and took to carrying a knife at all times. When she was eleven, Carmela had seen her brothers fury in all its glory. Luigi had been walking through the hallway with a stack of papers for the file room when a GENtern bumped into him and sent them fluttering from his hands. Without any hesitation at all he pulled the knife from his pocket and flicked it open and stabbed the GENtern several times. Carmela's eyes were wide. Luigi looked at her while the nameless GENtern bled out at his feet. "Get someone to clean this fucking mess before I gut you too." She'd run to her father. He looked displeased, but never said anything as he made a few phone calls and had the body disposed of without any undue attention. _

_She saw a lot of that. If her eldest brother wasn't either working or fighting, he was having one of his temper tantrums and someone usually ended up hurt or dead. Pavi became more reclusive where Carmela was concerned. Most of the time he was locked in his room with one of the GENterns, or the surGENs, or discussing something important with one of the guards. He never really had time to play with Carmela anymore and he did whatever he could to avoid Luigi. He had an endless supply of new faces. Carmela never knew where he got them, though when she was older she understood. At the time she hadn't understood a lot of things, like why Pavi had so much to talk to the guards about privately. Really, you'd think that a bunch of full grown men had better things to do with their time then sit around talking with her brother. _

_Of course, there were things that she didn't understand, and then there were things that she didn't quite understand, but knew there was something wrong all the same. Like the way Luigi looked at her. It sent chills down her spine, but she couldn't say why. Not really, not until her twelfth birthday. _Try as she might, Amber could never erase that night from her memory. _Her birthday had been unremarkable. Her mother had died little more than a year previous and even if she hadn't Carmela would have known better than to hope she'd show up. Her father had thrown her a party. There'd been a cake and gifts, craft supplies, dolls, stuffed animals, every thing a girl her age could wish for she supposed. Her father hadn't been able to stay long and her brothers hadn't been much better. In the end she'd been left alone with her things and a couple of GENterns. She'd ended up going to her room alone. It was the worst birthday she could imagine and it only got worse. _

_That night she lay in bed, thinking about her mother, wishing she hadn't left and made daddy mad. She'd been crying and tears stained her cheeks and her eyes were red and sore. She'd finally stopped crying and was just lying there quietly when she heard her door open. She sat up in bed and looked at the shape silhouetted in the doorway before the light was extinguished by the closing of the door. He walked over to the bed. Her brother seemed to loom larger than life over her as she lay there. Luigi sat on the edge of the bed. _

_She could just make out his features in the dim light. He smiled, which somehow scared her more these days than when he was scowling. "What's the matter sister, didn't have a good birthday?" Carmela wiped away her tears. Her brother was finally paying attention to her. He really did care after all! She shook her head sadly. Luigi's grin widened. "That's too bad little sister. But forget about it. I still got a present for you and I think you're gonna like it a whole lot." _

_Carmela cocked her head to the side questioningly. Luigi put an arm around her shoulders and drew her close. "Trust me princess, we're gonna have fun. It's play time." Carmela smiled. It had been too long since her older brother had taken the time to play games with her. He held her tightly and ran his hand down her arm and just underneath the bottom edge of her shirt, resting his hand lightly on her stomach. Carmela began to feel uneasy. Something didn't feel right. It reminded her of the uncomfortable looks he sometimes gave her when their eyes met. _

_He nuzzled his face into her neck, "Happy birthday Carma." His voice was husky as he spoke and he slid his hand further up her shirt. Carmela began to panic. Even at her age she knew something was horribly wrong. She squirmed and pulled away. Luigi gripped her arm tighter. "What's the matter Carma, don't you love your big brother?" _

_Carmela whimpered. "Of course I do, but you're hurting me. If you don't let me go I'll tell dad." _

_Luigi purposely squeezed her arm. "You should be a little more considerate when someone's trying to do something nice for ya you little bitch. You should count yerself lucky that I'm wasting my time making sure you have a good fucking birthday. Now shut up and enjoy." With that he yanked her back and lay her on the bed. Carmela struggled and attempted to protest, but Luigi pressed his mouth firmly over hers and thrust his tongue between her lips. Carmela's eyes widened with fear and discomfort. She wished she could push him off and run away, but the weight of him on top of her combined with his painful grip proved immovable. _

_Luigi shifted his weight and tore at her shirt until it ripped and hung open revealing her flat youthful chest. Luigi pulled away from her. Carmela was terrified. She had no idea what to think or do. She wanted to scream, but she was afraid of what he'd do. She just wanted him to go away and go back to ignoring her. Luigi had other ideas. He sat back on his heels, straddling her. He gripped her wrist and brought her hand to the growing bulge in his pants. "Feel that sis? It's all for you. I promised you I was gonna give ya something special." _

_Carmela tried to pull her hand away, but he held it in place. "Let me go Luigi, please!" She begged. "I won't tell dad, just go away. I don't wanna play a game, I don't want anymore birthday presents. Please let me go, please!" Tears had begun to form in her eyes and she kicked and began to scream as they slid down her cheeks. _

_Luigi slapped her hard across the face and clamped a hand over her mouth. "I told you to shut the fuck up you little cunt." He began to move her hand up and down, rubbing him through his pants. "Just do what the fuck I tell you to and you'll enjoy it, you got that?" He squeezed her wrist a bit harder and pressed himself into her palm. All Carmela could do was nod in agreement and hope that Luigi would grow bored with his torture and go away. "That's a good girl. Touch me Carma, show your big brother a little love. You just keep rubbing me the way I showed you and I'll do something nice for ya, how bout that. Bet you'd like it if I returned the favor wouldn't ya?" _

_He let go of her wrist but she continued her movements. Luigi smiled his evil grin and snaked his hand to her skirt. He pushed it roughly up around her hips and rubbed between her legs. "You like that don't ya, sis?" He uncovered her mouth to let her respond. _

_"No! Please stop it."_

_"Always gotta be an ungrateful little bitch don't ya?" He asked. "Well maybe I oughta teach you some manners too. Now tell me you like it and shut the fuck up and quit you're complaining. I'm sick of you whining like a little bitch when I try to do something nice."_

_Carmela swallowed hard. He wouldn't listen to her no matter how much she screamed or cried and doing those things just got her in more trouble. There was nothing she could do, no one to save her. "I-I like it brother," she said between sobs. Luigi gave her a sneering smile and slid his spindly fingers underneath the fabric of her panties. She was warm and smooth if a little to dry for his taste. He pulled his hand out and spat in his palm. He shoved his hand back into Carmela's panties, making her squirm backwards as much as she could to avoid his touch. He rubbed her a few quick times before slipping his fingers inside of her._

_Carmela gasped and whimpered. All her reasoning escaped her. She wasn't worried about angering her brother anymore, instead she thought only of making it stop. "Ow! Stop! Stop it! Ow ow. Get Off of me! Pleeease!" She pushed against him, punched and pushed at him; trying to throw him off, but she only managed to drive his long lithe fingers in deeper, causing her more pain. _

_He shifted his weight and pinned her down. He laughed at her pleas and cries. "Poor little Carma doesn't like her birthday present. It's ok, Princess, it'll get better. I promise. In the meantime, scream all you want. No one will hear you." She continued to cry. Luigi straddled her, making sure she couldn't get up to run, as she beat at him uselessly with her tiny fists. He unbuttoned his crisp white shirt and stripped it off. Next he pulled the ascot from around his neck and shoved it in her mouth, gagging her. She tried in vain to spit it out but failed as Luigi grabbed her wrists in one hand and fumbled with the zipper on his pants with the other. He managed to work it down with one hand and pushed his pants down over his hips. _

_Carmela's eyes got wide. She'd seen her brothers naked before, but never this close, and never in such a threatening manner. She wasn't entirely sure what was happening or what was going to happen, but she knew that it wasn't right. She tried to beg him through the gag to stop, she tried to swear that she wouldn't tell, but all that came out were muffled cries that seemed to make his grin widen. He tore at her underwear, ripping them off. He spit into his palm and pumped his swollen cock a few times before leaning down and whispering in her ear. "I'll be good to you, sister. Remember, no one loves you like I do. Just relax Carma, you'll like it. Don't you love me?"_

_She whimpered and nodded solemnly as he lowered himself on top of her. Tears slid down Carmela's cheeks as her brother satisfied himself. She saw the wicked glint in his eyes when she cried. She couldn't forget the horrible laugh that escaped whenever he made a painfully hard thrust that resulted in a muffled howl and a wince of pain. He licked the hot tears from her cheeks when he was done and buttoned his pants. He grabbed his shirt from the floor and reclaimed his ascot. "Stupid little whore, you got blood all over the fucking bed. Better clean that up and don't tell a fucking soul what happened if you know whats good for ya. Wouldn't want to piss your loving brother off would ya? Something bad might happen if you do that, besides, you love me don't ya, sis?" With that he left the room and Carmela curled up on the soiled sheets and cried._

_No one ever found out what had happened that night. Luigi kept his distance from her for the next week or so. He alternated between giving her threatening glares at the dinner table and looking at her the way he had on her birthday. Carmela did her best to avoid his glances whenever they ran into each other. He left her alone for a little while, but it wasn't over. He came to her numerous times after that. It was always at night, always for the same thing. He'd come in after everyone else was supposed to be asleep. Sometimes she was awake, sometimes she wasn't. When she was he'd try to have what he called foreplay. It usually consisted of making Carmela do things that made her feel dirty. He'd make her touch him, sometimes he'd make her put him in her mouth. If she was asleep when he came in he would just get undressed and climb into her bed. She would usually wake up as he started doing what he'd come for. _

_She tried to fight back for a while, but it was no use. It always ended badly. Usually he just covered her mouth so she couldn't scream and held her down so she would stop hitting him. Sometimes he'd yell at her and hit her... or just make it as painful as possible. She was sure sometimes he did certain things on purpose so that it hurt more. She almost got away once. He'd been on top of her and she'd been struggling. Her knee came up and caught him in the groin. He doubled over and she'd been able to crawl out from underneath him and made a run for the door. He'd regained his composure and caught her before she could turn the handle. Once he'd gotten at her again he'd broken her arm and had his way before leaving her alone for the night. He'd made sure he was there when their father asked what happened. She told him she'd fallen out of bed and landed on it wrong just like Luigi had told her to do. _

_It wasn't long after that Luigi talked Rotti into putting Carmela into a room closer to his. Carmela's heart sank when she found out that she'd been given a new room joining Luigi's. His first act was to destroy the lock on the door that separated his room from hers. She went through puberty in that room. Luigi seemed less interested in her after she hit the age of 13 and began growing into womanhood. She'd occasionally hear him pacifying himself with some woman. Carmela didn't mind though. As long as it was someone else, it wasn't her. Still, he came to her often enough still. _

_When she was fourteen he'd come to her, sought her out in the middle of the day. She was scared when he'd found her, afraid that he'd decided that their late night escapades weren't enough. Instead he'd calmly informed her that she had surgery in twenty-four hours. Carmela had been shocked. When she asked him what he was talking about he'd told to to mind her own business and do what he told her. The next afternoon she followed him to the operating bay like she'd been told to and nervously waited while the Zydrate kicked in. As she was going under she heard Luigi talking to the GENterns. "Make something pretty."_

_After that it was surgery after surgery. Luigi had scheduled the first five or so. It wasn't until months later that she'd gone through the paperwork of just what he'd had done to her. It was then she found out that he'd made sure that she'd never have kids. Carmela hadn't ever thought about the idea of being a mother, but the thought that the choice had been taken from her made her angry. When she confronted Luigi about it he only said that it was for the best. He wouldn't have to explain anything to Dad that way. After that it had been Carmela's idea to continue to alter her appearance. Where her brother had the surGENs build her to please, She had them change everything she could piece by piece hoping not only to deter Luigi's advances, but also to get her father to notice her. The one time she had ever tried to tell him what Luigi was doing he'd waved her off. She remembered him telling her, he had an important meeting with Mag to get to. From that point forward she reasoned that the only way to get her father to pay attention to her, to make Luigi leave her alone, was to change. Be more like the daughter Rotti wanted and the woman Luigi didn't. It didn't help. _

_When Carmela was sixteen she tried to escape. Luigi was back to his nightly visits and Carmela couldn't tell her father what had been going on. There was only one way out, at least in her eyes. That night she'd jammed a chair under the door handle so that Luigi couldn't get in and locked her door. She sat in the empty tub in the bathroom and took the knife she'd pilfered from her brother out of her pocket. She slid the cold blade down the bright blue veins in her arms. She bit her lip as the blade dug into her skin, bright red blood streaming down her arms. She dropped the knife into the tub and sank back as she watched her life slip away. _

_It never worked. It had been mere moments since the knife had worked its magic when she heard Luigi in the other room trying his damnedest to get through the door between their rooms. She hoped the barricade would hold. She only needed a few more minutes before she would be beyond help. But fate wasn't so kind. Luigi came bursting through the door and found her, curled up, bleeding. He left her there. Next thing she knew, she was waking up in her bedroom, bandages wrapped tightly around the wounds on her arms. Luigi visited her every day until her cuts had healed. He never did anything, just came in and glared until he left. _

_The day Carmela got her bandages off his demeanor changed. He came in, saw that she was finally healed and left. That night he came back. He stood at the foot of her bed. "What'd you do that for you fucking cunt?" Carmela didn't answer. She lay silently in bed waiting for him to take what he wanted and leave. He didn't. "Answer me you fucking whore!" He yelled. She still didn't answer. He stood at the side of the bed and backhanded her across the face, a sick smile settling fleetingly on his lips as tears sprang into her eyes. _

_"I wanted to die," She whispered._

_"I'm sorry, I can't fucking hear you, you fucking cunt."_

_"I just wanted it to stop. I didn't want you to touch me anymore. I wanted to die!" Her voice still barely above a whisper. _

_"Fine then!" With that Luigi pulled a knife out of his pocket and flicked out the blade. "You don't wanna be touched by me? I'm not good enough for the likes of you? Like any other sorry bastard would have your sleezey whore bitten ass? You're lucky you got me, sis. You think I can't find better than you? I could have any fucking woman I want but I'm wasting my time with you. You're lucky I'm a forgiving man cuz I'm gonna give you a second chance right now." He undressed and pressed the knife against Carmela's throat. The cold serrated edge of the blade dug into her sensitive flesh without breaking skin. "What d'ya say Carma?" She cringed when he called her that. It reminded her too much of when she was little and he'd just been her loving older brother. "You got two choices here," He climbed onto the bed and positioned himself over her, "take me, or tell me you still wanna die and I'll give you a hand."_

_He pressed the knife harder against her throat. "No one else is going to want a whore like you. So what do you say, are you going to be nice to your big brother? Huh?" He licked the side of her neck, trailing his tongue along her jaw. "You gonna stop being such a bitch, or should I slit your fucking throat right now? Cuz it won't phase me either way." _

_"N-nno."_

_"N-nno," he mocked her. "N-nno what? No you don't want me or no you don't wanna die? He pressed his erection hard against her as he playfully dragged the knife across her throat. _

_"N-no I don't w-want to d-die," she hiccuped trying to hold back her tears._

_"That's what I thought," he growled. "But just in case you change your mind, I'm gonna keep this," he pressed the tip of the knife against the hollow of her throat for emphasis, "nice and handy." He slipped the blade under her pajama top and sliced it off. Her pajama bottoms were next and he plunged himself deep inside of her. His thrusts were rough and penetrating. All the while he kept the blade trained on Carmela, pressed hard into her skin but not hard enough to cut. Every once in a while he would proposition her, "If you still want to die just say the word and I'll help you out. I'll even make sure you don't fuck up this time." He stopped before he found release. Carmela's eyes were full of tears. _

_He lay panting on the bed beside her and jabbed her with the knife, this time causing her to cry out as the blade pierced the skin. Blood began to form on the surface of the shallow cut. "What are you waiting for, Carma? Get you're ass over here and ride me til I tell you to stop." Carmela was defeated. She pushed herself weakly up and clambered on top of her brother, positioning herself carefully before sliding painfully down onto him. She chastised herself in her mind. If she hadn't been such an idiot he wouldn't have been so rough with her and she wouldn't hurt as much. She moved herself up and down, occasionally moving her hips in the little circles she knew he liked. Really, sometimes she wondered why she made such a big deal out of things. It was wrong, she knew that much, but she also knew that he was right. No one else would want a dirty little slut that fucked her own brother. If she could just stop fighting it wouldn't be so bad. He could actually be a gentle lover when he wanted to be. She rode him until he pushed her off of him and made her kneel to finish him off . She hated that most of all. It was one thing to have him inside of her, it was another to have to take him in her mouth and let him cum. She hated the taste and the way it made her mouth tingle. And she hated the way it made her feel, like the whore he kept telling her she was. He finished and pushed her away, his face showing his disgust. "You're the one that's not good enough for me, remember that next time you think you got it so bad." He pulled on his clothes and left. _

_It wasn't long after that when Carmela began sneaking out. She waited until she was sure nobody was around and then tiptoe out the front door and walk the streets for hours. She wasn't sure why she did it other than she needed to get out of the house, away from her family. If Luigi didn't find her in her room when he wanted her he would usually just summon one of the GENterns to fulfill his needs, although that didn't always work and he sometimes waited in her room for her to come back. Deep inside she'd been hoping to find something, though what that something was she couldn't say. Sometimes it was better when she went out walking._

_It was on one of those walks that she met the Graverobber. She'd wandered down one of the alleys near Sanitarium Square. The faint sound of music drifted out of a nearby club. He stood at the end of the alley, a spectacle. People were gathered around him, many of them women, on the ground at his feet as he held up glowing vials of illegal Zydrate. Everything about the scene looked like something out of a storybook to her. Their clothes were tattered and vibrant, their expressions glazed and wanting. They were the peasant subjects of this hypnotic colorful king. _

_Carmela couldn't help but be entranced with the scene before her. She stumbled forward and watched as he went through the parade of customers, taking their credits and giving whole vials to some, pulling out a no doubt pilfered Zydrate gun and shooting up the rest. More than once a girl stopped in front of him and dropped to her knees only to have him send her away. The Graverobber glanced over and turned to her. "What's the matter little girl? You gonna come over and get yours before I'm out or you just gonna stand there?" He smiled. _

_Even through the greasepaint on his face she could tell he was a handsome man. He bowed to her and gestured at the gun in his hand. She stepped forward. "I-I don't..."_

_"It's ok, kid, first times free." She hesitated a moment. She knew enough about Zydrate. She'd had it for almost all of her surgeries, but only sparingly and never undiluted. Besides, during surgery it was combined with other drugs to put you under so you never really felt the effects. She wasn't sure how it would affect her but she knew how addictive it could be. She didn't go any further. "I promise, you won't feel nothing at all," he smiled. It was an offer she couldn't refuse. If anything she wanted to be able to feel nothing, she wanted nothing more than to forget. It compelled her to move forward and before she knew it she was at his feet with the gun pressed against her neck. _

_The first hit was more than she'd expected. Everything felt numb. She felt like she was floating, like nothing mattered. It was nothing compared to the stuff they gave her for surgery. It didn't help to erase the memories, but at least when Luigi found her she didn't mind the things he did quite so much. It hit her hard and fast. Before she knew it she was seeking the Graverobber out for her next hit. She found him early in the evening in the alley. She went to him with hope in her eyes, maybe she'd finally found what she needed, a someone that could help her, maybe even a friend that could give her what she needed. "First hits free, second time's gonna cost you ,Princess." She hadn't had any money, but after a while Graverobber convinced her of an alternate form of payment. _

_He pinned her against a wall and fucked her there in the alley. Carmela didn't mind it so much though. He wasn't into the tears. He didn't hit her like Luigi did so often. He didn't berate her or tell her that she was nothing but a lousy whore. He was even rather gentle and made it quick. He didn't even put her on her knees. There was someone else willing to take her after all, and it wasn't her brother. Even if he was just trading her body for the glow, to Carmela, it was worth it._

_By the time she was eighteen, Carmela was doing what she could to earn respect in her father's eyes. Perhaps if she tried harder not only to look more like her mother, or even Mag, but to be useful to the company he would open his eyes to the sordid affairs that plagued his own house. Even if he didn't, she knew the rules of the game. If she wanted her father, or even her brother to respect her, she needed power first. She took music lessons. Mag had become a bane to her. Every time she tried to open her father's eyes to Luigi's abuse, he was too busy with Mag. He needed to meet with her about concerts, or talk to her about advertising, or had an important business luncheon to go to with her. Mag was becoming a thorn in her side. She was determined to outshine her._

_Her first act was to change her name. It served not only as a stage name, but as a way of distinguishing who she had become from who she had been. Carmela was dead. It was her way of escaping her past. The world would only know Amber Sweet. She formed the Zydrate Addicts Support Network. She was sure there were others out there, other addicts like her that only used to forget and then got addicted to the high even though it didn't change the world the way they'd wanted it. Luigi still came to her in the night, but she no longer dreaded his arrival. There were still times when she hoped he wouldn't come, days when she didn't want to be reminded of her childhood. But now, she had the company. Her father and Mag were dead. The man that had ruined her life lay with her dead mother at long last, and most times, Luigi wasn't all bad._

She rolled over, exhausted. She could hear Luigi as he picked up his clothes off of the floor and began to dress. He buttoned his pants and leaned over her and kissed her forehead. "Night, sis. You're my special girl, remember that." He turned and strode out of the room. His silhouette visible only briefly as he exited her room.


End file.
